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List:       kde-devel
Subject:    Re: SoC project: improving the KDE character map
From:       Loïc_Corbasson <loic.corbasson () gmail ! com>
Date:       2007-03-29 0:07:02
Message-ID: 200703290207.03891.loic.corbasson () gmail ! com
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Am Mittwoch 28 März 2007 11:46 schrieb subbukk:
> On Wednesday 28 March 2007 13:09, Loïc Corbasson wrote:
> > I personally don't think hiding the panel by default is a good idea.
> > The glyphs alone are not self-sufficient to be sure you pick the right
> > glyph: imagine you're looking for the hyphen sign, so you type 'hyphen'
> > in the search field; you will get the following results: ֊, -,  �-, ‑,
> > ‧, ⁃, ⸗, � , ﹣, －, � �. Even em dash and en dash may look quite the same
> > in the table as the font is relatively small; only the bigger
> > representation of the glyph and the description provided in the
> > properties page make it easily recognisable.
>
> The problem of disambiguation also occurs with icons in menus and
> systray :-). Beginners quickly learn to linger on icons and use the
> yellow pop-up for disambiguation. The current (3.5.x) behavior of yellow
> pop-up on hover with a larger preview of the glyph, name and unicode is
> consistent with rest of KDE.
>
> > The panel doesn't take that much space, in comparison to the table; it
> > would for sure be fixed-width and resizing the window would only make
> > the table and glyphs bigger. And if you really want to hide it, you may
> > do so by dragging the splitter appropriately. This was also already
> > discussed in part in this thread [1].
>
> I read the thread and didnt see some newbie viewpoints represented. For
> newbies, I believe the issue is not space but "info overload" (an
> intrinsic risk in all of KDE :-)). Regular users wont find it difficult
> to open a side panel when required. But, details can be distract a newbie
> from the simple task of selecting a char by glyph.
>
You're right, such a pop-up would be sufficient for most (beginner) uses, and 
put the focus for first-users on the table - I understand what you mean, the 
open panel can be kind of distracting. As long as the description is 
provided, there is no place for confusion anymore. I think the pop-up should 
be easier to read and less cluttered than the 3.5 version though, e.g. 
showing only the glyph in a big size, the description and maybe the 
annotations (which when present often contain precious informations, even for 
newbies, e.g. on where (not) to use the glyph). A "Show Details" button or 
something similar in a visible place in the GUI to show the panel would be 
necessary, no idea where to put it though.
>
> BTW, I am no usability-expert. My observations come from helping KDE
> newbies and my suggestions are just that - suggestions.
>
Neither am I :) so that's why I also restrict myself to ideas/suggestions and 
would ask the usability team before implementing anything.

Best regards,

Loïc

 
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